


'tis the season to be jolly

by niallhoranbitches



Category: One Direction (Band), Zayn Malik (Musician)
Genre: M/M, So basically, another ships/characters/categories will be added if needed, christmas prompts collection, it will be just a bunch of Christmas Ziall fluffs
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-03
Updated: 2016-12-26
Packaged: 2018-09-06 07:21:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 7,987
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8740147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/niallhoranbitches/pseuds/niallhoranbitches
Summary: aka this is where I will be (hopefully) adding my Christmas prompts/ficlets/oneshots. It will be mostly Ziall. And probably I wouldn't add once a day, but I will try my best.





	1. It's still November

**Author's Note:**

> So I’ve decided to do the stupidest thing in the Universe. And by that I mean writing Christmas prompts, since today, till Christmas (or New Year maybe). [If you wish, you can send me some propositions for cute christmas/winter aus](http://spaceziall.tumblr.com/ask)  
> The stupidity in this is the fact that I’m rubbish at fulfilling prompts at time and if so, they’re not the best quality. But I’ll try, even if it will be just drabbles or short ficlets. So if someone likes my works (lol), you’ll have something to look forward too. It will be mostly Ziall fluff *shrugs*. So yeah… Enjoy!

Zayn was sitting on the couch in the living room, absent-mindedly changing channels on the telly. Suddenly, he was pulled into the kitchen by that wonderful smell of freshly fried chicken. Stopping by the door frame, he smiled softly. Niall was buzzing around the cooker, singing something under his breath. Zayn came up, putting his hands on the blonde’s moving hips and rested his chin on Niall’s shoulder.

“What’re you doing?” he asked dumbly.

“A dinner. Since some of us are too lazy to do that, even if it’s their turn,” Niall explained.

“I was doing a... thin-”

Zayn’d made a vague gesture towards the living room but his boyfriend only looked at him with raised eyebrow and an amused smile. Knowing that he wouldn't be believed, Zayn didn’t even bother to finish that sentence. They both were perfectly aware that Niall wasn’t mad at all. Feeling too nice to let go, Zayn was still glued to the other boy’s back. This made Niall snicker every time he had to move for something.

“You’re like a duckling,” Irishman laughed, when Zayn shifted around with him once again.

Instead of an answer, brunet bit at his collarbone, completely ignoring Niall’s later comment about the fact that ducks don’t have teeth. Instead, he focused on the song that was playing in the background from Niall’s phone.

“Darling,” Zayn started, a bit baffled, “are you listening to ‘Cold December Night’?”

There was a short silence before Niall answered slowly:

“...maybe.”

“You know it’s November 1st, right?,” Malik laughed.

“I don’t care, it’s great!” Irish lad defended himself, “Go away, I don’t need a duckling who criticizes my music choices.”

When Niall wriggled away from his embrace and wagged a wooden spoon at him, Zayn made an offended noise and left the kitchen.

***

There were situations when Zayn’d really regret not having a drivers licence. Like today. He missed his bus home and had to wait almost two hours for the next one. To crown all, the weather was awful today - it was raining all day and the wind was unbearable. Zayn had been frozen to the marrow within 2 minutes. Hopefully, he had a boyfriend. A boyfriend, who got a car and knew how to drive it. And was lovely enough to pick him up.

It only took about 10 minutes for Niall to arrive, so Zayn shouldn’t complain. But as soon as he spotted the familiar, used-to-be black ford, he was sitting inside before the Irish lad could even stop properly.

“Thank you, Ni, I would freeze to death if you wouldn’t come,” Zayn muttered, shoving his hands between his tights to warm them up.

“No problem, babe,” Niall smiled and leaned to give Zayn a kiss.

It was a slow and loving kiss that made Zayn melt. Both mentally and physically since he was pretty sure that his face was covered with ice. He’d wanted to stay like this for a while but then he realized one thing that made him pull away a bit.

“What is this?” Zayn asked, rising an eyebrow.

Niall blinked funnily at Zayn and murmured, while trying to kiss his boyfriend again:

“What is what?”

“The song!” brunet said, turning his head towards the radio so Niall’s lips landed on his cheek. The soft sounds of Michael Bublé’s “It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas” was filling the car. “Why are you listening to this?”

“Because it’s great,” Niall sighed.

“But it’s too early for Christmas songs,” Malik growled and pointed outside the window. “Does it looks like Christmas to you?”

Niall just laughed and started up the engine, slowly going back on the road.

“You know,” he said, grinning, “Baby, it’s cold outside.”

With those words Irishman poked Zayn’s cold cheek with his finger, which made the latter only groan with frustration again.

“Besides, there’re Christmas merches and decorations in every store you’ll walk into,” Niall pointed out.

“I know and this is ridiculous! There were loads of Halloween crap a week ago and now-”

The rest of Zayn’s sentence was jammed by the music, because Niall turned up the volume.

“Sorry, what were you saying?” Irishman yelled with laughter. “I can’t hear you over my awesome Christmas song!”

Zayn’s mouth opened and then closed again after a few seconds, when he decided to say nothing more. He just crossed his arms and muttered:

“You’re crazy.”

Unfortunately for him, Niall was turning the sound on bearable level again so he said Zayn’s mumbling.

“You love it.” the Irish lad grinned and leaned to leave a loud smack on his boyfriend cheek, when they stopped at the red light.

Zayn had to bite his lip to contain a smile.

***

“Oh for fuck’s sake, Horan!”

Zayn shouted as soon as he entered the apartment. He’d heard it when he was at the staircase and maybe he would think that Niall was doing it on purpose but the truth was, that his boyfriend just really loved that bloody album. This time it was “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” blasting from their bedroom.

“I would never come home again if you won’t stop!” brunet left his coat on the hanger and toed off his shoes.

Without the slightest bit of survival instinct, Zayn went straight to the source of the sound. As he expected, he’d found Niall in the room, jamming to the song, while folding some clothes and putting them to the closet.

“Why do you hate me so much?” Zayn cried, tossing himself onto the bed.

“I love you!” Niall answered, looking like a puppy that just peed on the carpet and was sure that he just did a good thing. That proud look on his face was really annoying sometimes. Or that was what Zayn trying to convince himself, so he didn’t look like a sappy boyfriend.

“Then please, stop this madness. It’s not December yet,” Malik sighed. They had that conversation too many times this month.

“’Yet’ is a key word here,” Niall emphasized, waggling his eyebrows.

At that moment, Zayn figured that trying to pretend irritated was a wasted effort. He shook his head fondly, asking:

“You’re not gonna give me a break, are you? That’s not fair, though.”

“Everything is fair in our relationship and Christmas,” Niall said.

“I’m pretty sure this is not how the saying went,” Zayn busted into laughter.

“Whatever.”

***

“I DON’T WANT A LOT FOR CHRISTMAS, THERE’S ONLY THING I NEED. I DON’T CARE ABOUT THOSE PRESENTS UNDERNEATH THE CHRISTMAS TREE!”

A loud music and even louder singing had woken Zayn up the next morning. He growled, lifted his head a little bit and blinked with confusion. When his eyes were finally able to focus, he saw his boyfriend, wearing only white boxers and Santa’s hat. Standing next to the bed, Niall was singing and dancing a weird dance, that contained a lot of shaking hips and pointing at Zayn. That probably was supposed to be sexy, but came out mostly hilarious. If brunet wasn’t that sleepy, he might even laugh at his silly boyfriend’s behaviour. But he just laid his head back on the pillow and patiently waited for Niall to end his show.

“That was beautiful, love,” Zayn said with his cheek pressed to the pillow, his voice still raspy from sleep, ”but don’t wake me up on Saturday mornings or you won’t get any of my sweet loving.”

“I’m officially able to listen to Christmas songs since now,” Niall remembered proudly, ignoring Zayn’s comment.

“Yeah, you are. Maybe it would make a bigger impression if you wouldn’t do it anyway for the past few weeks.”

Seeing Niall’s smile, brunet couldn’t stop his own. Untangling one of his arms from the sheets, he grabbed Irishman’s arm and tugged weakly.

“C’mon. You’ve been torturing me for far too long. I deserve cuddles till noon now.”

Hopefully, he didn’t need to say it twice.


	2. Cliché

Ice skating in the "pre-Christmas" time was the biggest cliché, if you'd ask Zayn. The rinks were full of annoying couples or little kids, so going there alone seemed a bit sad and pathetic. He wasn't that desperate to believe in the love from the first sight, found on some chilly winter evening.

But despite his, rather sceptical views, as soon as Louis proposed going ice skating on Friday afternoon, he agreed. It might be fun, to go and fool around a bit with his best friend. Especially, when Zayn’d actually knew how to deal with skates, even better than with his own, bare feet. He was definitely more graceful on the ice rink, than on the dance floor, for example.

The fun ended as soon as Zayn'd realised that Louis didn't come alone. Which, well, Zayn should predict it. Louis was the guy, who preferred other entertainments than ice-skating, but he also had a lot of weird ideas, so Zayn hadn’t questioned it at first. But now he understood from where Louis’ idea came from. Lately, his friend fell head over heels for his new crush, Harry. They'd just started dating and they were one of those lovey - dovey couples, even if Louis was kicking and biting every time anyone had pointed it out. So yeah, it was quite obvious that Louis will bring Harry. And don't get Zayn wrong, he really enjoyed Harry's company, that guy was amazing. But third-wheeling wasn't his favourite thing to do with a free evening.

But the choices had been made. He was quite thankful, that his friends abandoned him, though. All those heart eyes and hand holdings were a bit hard to bear for someone as lonely as Zayn was lately. Going alone around the ice rink, Zayn thought that he had fulfilled his own vision of a desperate man. Holding back a heavy sigh, he at least tried to enjoy that evening, even though it was pretty boring. Zayn skated near the barricades, wondering if his friends would even notice him going home. Probably not. The only thing that stopped him so far, was that he’d paid his carefully saved money for an hour of that questionable fun, so it would be a waste to resign after 10 minutes.

Lost in his own thoughts, he hadn’t paid much attention to his surroundings. Which might not be the wisest thing to do on a pretty crowded ice rink. And that’s why he didn’t notice on time that someone was screaming near him.

“Get out of the way! Get out OF THE WAY!” the shouting had became louder, but before Zayn found its source, someone’s heavy body crashed with his.

It was impossible to keep his balance with the skates on and the element of surprise did its job as well. Zayn hadn’t even got enough time to steady himself on his arms, he just fell backwards, his butt and back had painfully hit the firm ice. And the culprit of the whole situation had fallen on top of him, knocking his breath from his lungs.

“I’m so sorry!” there was a shout, definitely too close to Zayn’s ear, “I was trying to warn you! I’m really sorry!”

Feeling a bit fuddled, Zayn raised his head carefully, afraid to move more rapidly. His eyes landed on the stranger who caused all this and… It was the last straw for all the thoughts that Zayn had about clichés. He just had seen the most beautiful, huge, blue eyes he’d ever seen. It was quite hard to tear his gaze away from them, but he managed to do it and realized that it’s owner was even more beautiful in overall. Messy blonde hair, rosy cheeks and pink lips, a bit parted at that moment, made him look like a little cherub. He was adorable and hot at the same time and he was lying on top of Zayn. Brunet had to hit his head while he fell. Things like that didn’t happen in real life.

“Did I hurt you? Are you ok?” the blonde boy kept asking.

“I’m…,” Zayn tried but hearing how squeaky his voice was, he cleared his throat before continuing, “I’m ok, just a bit achy, I guess.”

“That’s good. I mean it’s not but, ya know…” the stranger laughed like he’d just told a joke.

Zayn was really surprised when he’d found himself chuckling as well, even though his back was hurting as hell and he was freezing his butt off, still lying on the cold rink. Eventually, the other guy rolled himself of Zayn and sat on the ice, still giggling.

“I really can’t deal with those bloody things,” he said, waggling his feet.

“So why were you speeding like that?” Zayn yelled, but a smile was still plastered to his face.

“Cause my friend was pushing me and then let go and I kinda didn’t know how to stop those.”

Zayn bursted out laughing, seeing how happy about it the guy seemed to be. Blonde only grinned, trying to get up but failing miserably. Finally, he got on all fours and managed to stand up somehow. After that, he’d extended his hand to Zayn. Brunet took it and tried to get up with the stranger’s help, but that only made the latter to almost fall again. To Zayn amusement, he blonde boy didn’t seem to mind, chuckling again.

“I can teach you,” Zayn said after he was up again. “How to stop, I mean. Before you knock down another person.”

“Would ya?” he seemed really excited about it. “I’m Niall, by the way.”

“Zayn,” he smiled. “So, Niall, the easiest way is to just bend your knees a bit and…”

Zayn started to explain and he spent the next few moments on trying to teach Niall how to do this properly. It wasn’t the easiest thing to do. Blonde was stumbling a lot and he’d gotten distracted easily.

“Look, Zayn! It’s working!” Niall yelled at some point. He was so excited about it that he hadn’t fully stopped, bumping into Zayn instead. Niall wrapped his arms around the brunet to keep his balance and grinned, looking him straight in the eyes. “You’re an amazing teacher.”

“Well, I wish I could say that you’re a good student, Niall.” Zayn joked, trying not to blush because of this closeness.

“I’m the best, shut up,” the other boy laughed and then added, more seriously, “Unfortunately, I have to go from here now, but I kinda wished that I can take you with me? And ask you for a coffee as a thank you? And for a number, maybe. In case I’ll have more trouble with skating.”

Zayn had to bit his lip to stop his smile, but he was sure that he still looked like a madman. Niall was really cute when he looked so hesitant and shy all of sudden. Before Zayn could even though this through, he answered:

“Well, you still have a lot to learn, ya know?”

Seeing Niall face lit up like this, Zayn decided that clichés are not as bad as he thought and it’s even worth to bruise himself a bit for some of them.


	3. A man can dream

Zayn couldn’t focus. Sentences in the book he was reading made no sense, so he was reading the same paragraph over and over again. His eyes were skipping from the book in his hands to the other side of the hall, where Niall stood. Zayn was aware that staring at people, especially the ones he didn’t technically knew that well, was considered impolite. But he couldn’t do anything about it. With Niall it was like with looking at the sun. You could feel it, but you still felt the need to look and check if it’s there, even though it would hurt your eyes. The human embodiment of sun - that’s what Niall was. Zayn felt like he knew him, while in fact they’d only talked a few times. They had been introduced to each other at some party, ran by their mutual friend. Alcohol made it easier for Zayn to talk with Niall back then but hat conversation lasted for just a few minutes, before Niall were kidnapped by a group of very loud guys and Zayn was left alone.

It was quite funny, Zayn’d thought. He was an earnest student at the University of Art and he’d still had that huge, ridiculous crush on a person he barely knew. Pretty embarrassing, to be honest.

For his defence, Zayn could say that Niall was exactly his type. Well, actually he’d always said that he didn’t have one. But if he did, it would be Niall. Niall was a student of sound engineering, but they’d still had some classes together, like History of Art for example. He was just a carefree, kind-hearted , funny Irishman, with a great knowledge of various subject. Not that Zayn was a stalker. Sometimes, when he was seating near the blonde one, he’d just overheard some of the conversations that Niall had with his friends. And when Zayn was lucky enough, he even chatted with him for a bit in between classes. And, even if Zayn knew that appearance wasn’t everything, Niall was really beautiful. He wasn’t handsome in a tough way or completely soft and pretty. He was just the perfect mixture of both which made Zayn lose his heart for him.

So, yeah. There Zayn was, admiring his crush from afar instead of try to talk to him again. It wasn’t that bad, if you’d thought about it. That way Zayn still could hope that he had a chance with Niall. A man can dream, right?

Those thoughts had absorbed Zayn so much, that he’d completely forgotten about trying to be discrete. Now, he was staring at Niall openly, probably drooling a bit as well. Only when Niall’s friend, made a vague gesture in Zayn’s direction, it helped brunet to regain a grip on himself. Blushing, he’d fixed his eyes on the book again, trying to hide his embarrassment. He managed to sit like that for the next seven seconds, before he carefully glanced back at the spot where Niall was standing. He wasn’t there anymore. Instead, the blonde guy was heading straight towards Zayn. There weren’t many people on the hall at the moment, so brunet couldn’t made that up. He started to think how can he run away, since Niall was probably going to yell at him for all that creepy staring. But then Zayn’d realised that Niall was smiling. That caught him off guard a bit. Why he was smiling?

Before he could find a logical explanation, Niall was standing in front of him, with his hands in the back pockets of the skinny jeans he was wearing. With a cute smile still plastered to his face, Irishman glanced expectantly at something over Zayn’s head. Even more confused than before, brunet lifted his head.

_Mistletoe._

There was a freaking _mistletoe_  hanging above his head. Who even thought that hanging them around the University was a good idea?

Zayn’d never found an answer for that question, since a second later, a blonde mop of hair covered his sight and Zayn felt a soft press of Niall’s lips in the corner of his owns.

It lasted for less than blink of an eye and Zayn would be sure that it was just his head messing with him, if not the look on Niall’s face. A little sparks in his eyes, his lover lip caught between his teeth, a shy smile when he was looking at Zayn. The latter felt like his heart is about to explode within a second. He wanted to keep this view forever.

Before Zayn was able to say anything, Niall took a step backwards.

“Bye, Zayn,” Niall waved a bit sheepishly and stumbled a bit while continuing, “we could do that sometime again? Without the mistletoe?”

He turned on his heels and walked away. Zayn’s woozy brain needed a moment to process that information. When he’d finally did, he just jumped onto his feet and caught Niall by his arm. When Irishman looked at him with his eyes opened wide, Zayn just leaned closer, kissing him properly this time. He smiled, when Niall’d returned the kiss.

Maybe the mistletoes weren’t that bad of an idea.


	4. Don't cry

People often said that Niall's a ray of sunshine. He didn't even know where did it come from, but everytime he just smiled and shrugged it off. What else could he do? "Everything about you is positive", "You're so funny!", "Do you ever stop smiling?" - That was all Niall heard and he couldn't complain. It was really nice after all. Of course he had bad days, everyone did, but he always tried to keep his blue to himself. And also - he really liked making people smile. Seeing others happy was like a prize for his, bigger or smaller, efforts.

 

Niall loved winter, he really did. But he wasn't too fond of that horribly cold wind that was trying to turn him into icicle and freezing rain. And that was exactly what he saw after leaving the university the other day. Sighing and wrapping a scarf tighter around his neck, he faced the awful weather. Hopefully his bus won't be too late this time.

After a short, quick walk he'd reached the almost empty bus stop. Almost, because there was that boy, sitting on the bench with his head turned down. All that Niall saw was a mop of ebony, black hair, ruffled by the wind, high cheekbones and a cute, little nose, which poked just above the huge scarf. The boy barely acknowledged Niall, when the blond had one stood a few steps away from him.

Niall was planing to mind his own business, he really did. Actually, he was just about to untangle his headphones and listen to some music, when he heard a muffled sniffle. Couldn't really resist, Niall glanced at the stranger once again. It wasn't polite to stare at strangers and snoop around. Niall knew that. Maybe he just had a runny nose? But when he'd notice a shiny, wet trace on the strangers cheek, he was walking towards him before he could think this trough.

"Hey...," he started warily. The strangers head snapped up and those big, brown eyes looked wide at him. Niall didn't let himself think about how beautiful that guy was for too long. There was a reason why he'd approached him on the first place.

"I don't want to bother you, but... I've noticed you crying and wondered... is there anything I can help you with?"

The strangers eyes grow even wider, which seemed quite impossible if you'd ask Niall. For a few seconds the handsome brunet had been just staring at Niall before he cleared his throat.

"Oh, no, it's OK. Thank you, but... I'm alright," the stranger said, his voice a bit raspy.

Niall bit his lip. If someone had cried, there had to be a reason for that, at most cases at least. He glanced at the phone that brunet was clutching in his right hand. Maybe he'd got some bad news? Hoping that he wasn't crossing the line, Niall continued:

"Well, I understand that you don't feel like sharing with some random like me, but... whatever it is, it's gonna be alright, yeah? You'll get through this."

Before the blonde one had even finished the sentence, the other guy started to shake his head at him.

"No, it's not that. There's... n-nothing wrong I promise," he stumbled, hiding his face in the scarf.

The tone of his voice wasn't too convincing for Niall. He sounded unsure and hesitant.

"There's a lot of things to be happy about. Like... the Christmas are coming!," Niall grinned, before thinking about it for a second and his brows furrowed, "If you celebrate them of course... If not, then-"

"Hey," the boy said, chuckling lightly. His gaze returned to Niall, and blonde noticed that his cheeks were slightly darker now. "I'm really OK. I was just... this is so embarrassing, even more after you were so worried about me, but- I was just reading a fanfiction. A very angsty one."

The last words were mumbled into the scarf as the stranger refused to fix his eyes with Niall's again. A blush was now covering his whole face. Niall, a bit confused at first, had to bit his cheek to stop a smile. This guy was adorable. Looking like an angel, or at least professional model, too good for anyone, he turned out to be just a sensitive fanboy. Before he could come with an answer, his brain made him ask:

"What fandom?"

"Um-" the guy seemed surprised and even more embarrassed now but he eventually managed a quiet "Harry Potter? It's, um, Deamus, a-'The final goodbye'? that's the tittle?"

The stranger seemed to be a bit uncomfortable for sharing all this information and it sounded more like a question, but Niall didn't care. Actually, he wasn't surprised anymore, that the handsome guy was crying.

"Oh petal. Why did you do that to yourself," blonde boy said with a maternal tone in his voice. He spread his arms open and smiled when the stranger blinked slowly at him. "Come on. You need a hug right now."

Confusion and embarrassment on the other guys face finally were replaced by a smile, when he chuckled and stood up.

"Or a cuddle session with hot chocolate, more like," Niall cleared while wrapping his arms around the stranger, "That fic? This is one of those that leaves you crying on the floor for a week, with a devastated heart."

The warm puff of air tickled Niall's cheek when the other boy laughed. After a few seconds, they're stepped back, a bit awkwardly.

"Yeah, that wasn't the nicest one. I really prefer happy endings," the brunet said, biting his lip.

Couldn't tear his gaze away, Niall shifted from one foot to another, debating what he should do now. There was that one option he was considering really carefully.

"Actually, maybe-"

"I was wondering-" they'd started at the same time.

Niall hid his face in the scarf to hide his smile, and gestured towards the black haired boy to continue.

"Um, I was wondering... Will you agree to go for a coffee with me? Or hot chocolate?" the handsome stranger smiled shyly and at that moment Niall knew that he would do anything, that guy'd asked him to. "You know, for being so lovely for me."

Niall was sure that his grin was so big that even the scarf wasn't able to cover it. Trying to sound nonchalant, but failing miserably since he was a step from breaking into giggles, Niall answered:

"I was just about to suggest that cuddle session and hot chocolate, but OK. We can start from something sweet to drink."


	5. Deck the halls

It all started from that tiny reindeer figurine. It was a cute one, cartoon styled, with bubbly limbs, huge grin, holding a plate saying “Let it snow!”. One day, in late November, it just appeared on the kitchen counter. At first Zayn thought that his roommate, Niall, just forgot that he’d left it there. But the figurine stayed on its place and since it was so small and kind of adorable, Zayn couldn’t complain.

The next thing was a tealight holder. A little green one, with some snowflakes on it. It had special ability, though, it could multiply. Because when Zayn woke up the next morning there were two of them already, and then, the red one joined them. It was just like Niall was testing him, how much Zayn can handle before saying anything. The tealights were all set into neat triangle on the middle of the coffee table and they didn’t bothered Zayn at all. Actually, he liked the soft, warm light that they’d been giving and the scent of cinnamon and apples. They smelled like Niall.

The mug was probably another one from the list. The huge, white mug with soft curves. It had “Baby, it’s cold outside” written in fancy, gold letters on the one side and a heart-shaped snowflake on the other. Zayn got it on that particularly bleak day, when he came back home from his lectures, feeling nothing but the cold. He was greeted by Niall’s cheery voice as soon as he’d entered the flat and the Irish lad offered to fix him some tea after Zayn started to complain about the weather. When Zayn entered their small kitchenette, Niall handed him said mug, with a smile that warmed Zayn more than the hot tea in his hands. Trying to get a grip on himself, he looked down at what he was holding and… well, it didn’t help much. Zayn smiled, seeing the graphics on the mug, trying to ignore the little flinch of his heart. It wasn’t like Niall wanted to convey a message via mug. Zayn wasn’t even sure if it was a gift for him or not. But when he’d noticed that the blonde boy always prepared hot beverages for Zayn in it and never drinked from that mug himself, Zayn claimed it as his own. And when he’d bought Niall a matching red one with white graphics, it was just repaying.

Christmas lights were a nice one. They were simple, not one of those with fancy shaped bulbs and they gave a dim, blue light. It was maybe the 5th of December when Zayn’d caught Niall hanging them on the wall over the telly. He entered the living room, planning to ask if Niall wanted to watch a film together and he saw the Irishman standing on his tippytoes on the stool. When asked if he needed any help, Niall only shook his head and grinned over his shoulder. In this exact moment, the chair nodded dangerously. Niall yelped, holding on to the shelf just on time. Ignoring his roommate’s earlier words, Zayn approached him and placed his hands on Niall’s waist. It was just for assecuration. It took Niall less than a minute to set the lights up, while Zayn tried really hard to not get distracted by the warmness of the other boy’s body under his palms. As it was done, blonde lad hopped from the stool, smiling proudly. He smacked a loud kiss on Zayn’s cheek and before the latter could even react, he disappeared in his room, shouting that Zayn can put on some film to watch and he would join him in a second.   
When some time later, Niall cuddled up to his side, like he always did while watching the telly together, Zayn couldn’t help but notice, that the lights were in the same colour as Niall’s eyes. He really liked them.

In overall, their shared flat was becoming more and more festive-looking. Zayn was never the one who got excited about Christmas, but he didn’t mind that Niall was. After all, some decorations couldn’t do any harm, right? Some more figurines appeared around the flat, one of them was even placed on Zayn’s bedside table. The entrance to the kitchenette was decked with white garlands, there was that pillow, styled as a present, on the couch. Santa’s hat was left on the coat hanger. Of course Niall owned one. Zayn never seen the blonde boy wearing it, but he bet that he would look adorable.

Zayn accepted all of those things, he didn’t even mind when Niall was singing Christmas songs from time to time. But when he saw Niall carrying a Christmas tree to the flat on December 14th, he couldn’t help it.

“What is that?” Zayn asked laughing.

The blonde boy turned around, apparently not expecting Zayn to be up at 10 on Saturday morning. He bit his lip, glancing at the Christmas tree he was holding and then back at Zayn.

“I know what you’re thinking,” he started warily, “but I’m not gonna decorate it straight away! I just thought we should get one earlier. It will be harder to buy a nice one last minute. I’m gonna hide it somewhere, you won’t have to see it till Christmas, it was just-”

Zayn just watched fondly as Niall babbled, still in his coat, with snowflakes melting in his soft, fluffy hair, holding a bloody Christmas tree under his arm. Without thinking, the dark-haired boy moved closer, taking Niall’s flushed face in his hands. Irishman stopped mid sentence, blinking funnily at his roommate. A smile spread across Zayn’s face and he shook his head with disbelief and awe. He leaned forward, placing a soft kiss on Niall’s lips.

“Wha-” the blonde boy started, but he was unable to finish the sentence,  staring at Zayn with wide eyes.

“We should hang a mistletoe here, don’t you think?” Zayn asked, raising one eyebrow, smile still on his face.

The Christmas tree hit the ground with a muffled thud when Niall wrapped his arms around other boy’s neck connecting their lips once more.


	6. It’s always a good time for cocoa

“Ni? Are you ok?” Zayn asked, rubbing his tired eyes.

It was around 2 am and Zayn was not sure what woke him up. Maybe some quiet noises in the next room or an absence of a warm body next to him. But as soon as he noticed that Niall was gone, he crawled out of bed.

He didn’t have to look very far. He found his boyfriend on the couch in the living room, playing with the present-shaped pillow. The soft glow of the candle was brightening the room when Zayn approached the blonde boy. Niall looked up at him, but just for a second, before turning his head away and sent him a small smile. It wasn’t too convincing, if you’d ask Zayn.

“Can’t sleep,” Niall said, his voice more like a whisper. “Sorry if I’ve woken you up.”

“Nah, ‘s ok,” Zayn fought back a yawn and plonked himself down next to his boyfriend.

Automatically, he wrapped an arm around Niall’s shoulders, tugging him a bit closer. The latter didn’t hesitate and eventually he just lied down, placing his head on Zayn’s lap. His fingers were still fumbling with the small pillow. Even more concerned, Zayn run his fingers through soft, blonde hair, hoping that he was only imagining the sad look on his boyfriend’s face. He didn’t want to ask, though. Being pushed to share wasn’t his favourite thing and if Niall felt the same, it was better to wait until he would decide to say what’s bothering him.

After a moment Niall relaxed in his arms, his fingers stopped fidgeting. Zayn thought that the boy fell asleep but then the Irishman’s quiet words broke the silence between them.

“It’s just...,” he started, unsure, “It will be my first Christmas without my family, ya know?”

His voice sounded so small and in the dim light his cheeks seemed to be darker from embarrassment. Zayn reached with his hand that wasn’t tangled in Niall’s hair and entwined their fingers together. He started to draw small circles with his thumb on the top of his boyfriend’s hand.

“That sucks, babe. But you are going to see them the day after the Boxing Day, aren’t you?” Zayn asked quietly.

“Yeah, I know, ‘s just- Despite everything that had happened, we still were together on Christmas. And now me mum is going to God-knows-where with her boyfriend. She deserve it, of course she does, I’m happy for her. And I don’t want to go to Denise’s parents like dad, they’d invited me, but- It will be so weird.” Niall sighed heavily and then added, with a laugh that was anything but happy, “God, I’m being such a baby about it.”

“You’re not being a baby, Niall.” Zayn protested. “You have all the rights to feel like this, Christmas is supposed to be a family thing. I’m sorry that you can’t spend it as you want to, love.”

Niall just sighed again, fixing his eyes on their joined hands. He unravel them, taking Zayn’s hand in between his both this time, playing with dark haired boy’s fingers. It was a habit of his, Zayn noticed, a sign of nervousness. He always became fidgety and had to fumble with something to calm down.

“The thing is that I’m not sure if I want? Like… There were moments lately, when everything was so tense. So maybe I should be happy that everyone is spending those days as they wish, but- I’m feeling a bit… lost. I don’t even know if this is making any sense.”

“It is. Christmas with your folks were, like, the constant thing for you, you’re just not used to spending it differently,” Zayn comforted him, caressing his cheek, “What are you going to do then?”

“I was kinda planning to… Stay here I guess? Couldn’t think of many possibilities, to be honest.”

Zayn hummed in response, absentmindedly biting his lower lip.

“So maybe… We’re gonna spend the whole Christmas morning cuddling on the couch, watching sappy movies or maybe not watching them at all? And then we’re gonna visit my mum in the evening, hoping that she’s gonna feed us with some delicious food?”

Halfway through his proposition, Niall had turned on his lap that he was facing Zayn now, looking at him with a questioning look. His eyes were shining, reflecting the shaky candle flame. For the who-knows-which time Zayn was taken aback by his beauty.

“But… You’re not gonna spend Christmas with family?” Niall asked, dumbfounded.

“We’re not sticking to the tradition that much,” Zayn shrugged and smiled at his boyfriend, “We only celebrate Christmas because of my mum and it’s always just a fancy dinner on the 25th. Besides, I’ve just invited you to come there with me.”

“But… I can’t just crash there like that.”

“Come on, we both know that my mum will be more delighted by your presence than mine,” Zayn laughed. “She loves when you’re complimenting her cooking.”

For the first time since the beginning of the conversation, Niall’s lips curled into a genuine smile.

“There is a lot to compliment, though! You should get to know some of your mum’s recipes!” blonde boy grinned, but then he got serious again, “You sure it will be alright? If I come?”

“More than alright, love,” Zayn confirmed confidently, bending to place a short kiss on Niall’s lips, “Don’t worry that much, ok? I’m gonna make you some cocoa to cheer you up, what do you think?”

Niall furrowed his eyebrows and turned his face towards the telly, where the clock was.

“But it’s almost 3am,” he pointed out, but couldn’t stop a smile that was appearing on his face.

“Yeah, so what? It’s always a good time for cocoa,” the dark haired boy grinned, pecking Niall’s lips one more time.


	7. Winter Wonderland

“Papa, papa, look!” Shaylee’s voice was clearly audible in the flat, “Look at all that snow! There's so much!”

Niall peeked one eye open, when he heard Zayn muffled whine. A smirk appeared on his face. The last few times, he was the one that was woken up by the heaviness of their daughter’s 5-year-old body. It was fair that this time Zayn had to suffer. After all, it wasn’t the nicest thing to be used as a trampoline.

“What?” Zayn croaked, rubbing his tired eyes.

“The snow, papa! We should go outside!” the little girl continued to yell excitedly.

Instead of an answer, the dark-haired man just wrapped his arms around Shaylee’s body and rolled onto his side, trapping girl between him and Niall.

“Sure thing, princess,” Zayn yawned, “‘ll go.”

“Then get up! Come on, daddy, do something!”

And that was when Niall’s peace had ended. There were a lot of fidgeting on his side and accidental kicks in the stomach, quickly followed by two little hands shaking his arm. Irishman wanted to keep pretending that he’s asleep but he finally gave up with a sight.

“You’re the most effective alarm clock in the Universe, ya know that, little one?” he asked, opening his eyes.

“Doesn’t matter. Let’s go outside!” Shaylee’s eyes were shining with excitement.

Niall leaned on his elbow and turned to face his daughter with a grin on his face.

“Do you want to build a snowman?” Niall started, trying to rise his voice to match Anna’s singing but he wasn’t quite able to do it, especially in the morning. But hearing Shay’s laugh was rewarding enough for him to keep going. “Come on let’s go and play! I never see you anymore, come out the door, it's like you've gone away!”

“Shut up and lemme sleep, please” Zayn mumbled, hiding his head under the pillow.

“Watch your mouth, Sleeping Beauty. I’ll go to make some breakfast, you’d better be up in 15 minutes,” Irishman said, leaving a kiss on his fiance’s shoulder blade, since it was the only visible part of him, the rest covered by the sheets.

Niall made himself to get up from the bed and gestured at the girl to follow him. Picking up a shirt that was left on the chair’s backrest, he pulled it over his head, before heading towards the kitchen.

“I don’t wanna breakfast, I wanna go” Niall heard Shay’s petulant voice, but a few seconds later, the girl showed up in the kitchen. With a pout and crossed arms, but she showed up.

After putting the kettle on, Niall approached the little girl, that was still hovering near the doorframe and picked her up. He kissed her nose and smiled, when Shay hid her face in his neck to muffle a giggle.

“We need breakfast, petal! We won’t be able to build a snowman if we don’t eat, it requires a lot of energy, ya know?”

Shaylee looked up at him with squinted eyes, like she was considering whether she should believe Niall or not. Finally she nodded, wrapping her chubby, childish arms around her dad’s neck.

“I wanna toasts with jam then!” she decided, pointing at the fridge expectantly.

“Ok, princess,” Niall laughed and put her on the ground, “Will you go and get dressed while I’ll make us breakfast?”

Shay nodded again before running out from the kitchen. Irishman only shook his head with fondness and took the mugs out from the kitchen cabinet. Only a few seconds later, he felt someone tugging at his shirt. It wasn't a surprise, when he looked down and saw that his daughter is back again.

“Yeah, love?”

“Will you cut away the crusts?” she asked, dead serious.

“‘Course,” Niall answered with a smile. Satisfied with his answer, Shaylee left the kitchen again. Even if he did it every single time, she always asked, making sure that he won’t forget about it. It was like a tradition.

Niall turned on the radio and started preparing the food. Toasts for the little one, a great serving of scrambled eggs for him and a bit for Zayn and three cups of sweet tea. He was placing it all on the kitchen table, when Shay bounced along, her brown hair still sticking in different directions. At least she was fully dressed. Niall moved her chair closer to the table after she sat herself down. He dropped a kiss on top of her head and went to the bedroom to get dressed and drag Zayn out of bed.

“I'm not sleeping!” Zayn mumbled into the pillow as soon as Niall entered the room, “I'm up!”

“Yeah, I can see that, babe,” Niall laughed, searching for a pair of sweatpants in the closet, “Come on, the breakfast is ready.”

Zayn managed to join Niall and Shaylee in the kitchen about 10 minutes later. Irishman was about to scold him, since the food had already cooled off, but he couldn't bring himself to do that. Not when Zayn was still soft and sleepy, his eyes barely open and his hair tousled almost as much as Shaylee’s. Zayn sat on the chair in the middle, leaned to peck their daughter's forehead and then turned around to face Niall.

“Your eggs are cold,” Irishman tried to stay serious, pointing at the plate.

“No, they're not,” Zayn said, waggling his eyebrows, voice still raspy with sleep.

“Wha-” Niall chuckled, looking at his fiance with disbelief, “Behave yourself, the little one is here.”

“I don't know what you're talking about, I am behaving, it's not my fault that your thoughts are dir-”

Niall just shook his head. Trying to hide the fondness that probably was clearly visible on his face, he leaned forward to wipe Zayn's cheeky smile away with a kiss.

 

“Niall, have you seen my jumper? The navy one?” Zayn yelled.

“You've left it on the couch yesterday, it's still there!” Niall shouted back from the kitchen, where he was rummaging through the fridge.

“Daddy, where's my scarf?”

“On the rack, darling, ask your papa to hand it to you if it's too high,” when Shaylee approached him, Niall was crouching, looking inside the bottom kitchen cabinets.

“I left my phone somewhere…,” Zayn sighed, entering the kitchen.

“‘S on the table,” Niall answered absentmindedly and straightened up before looking inside the fruit basket.

“Oh, thanks. And what about the ke-”

“Left pocket of your coat, love,” Irishman said automatically, before giving a shout of cheer. “Finally!”

He triumphantly lifted a carrot, turning around to send Zayn a big grin. The latter only laughed at him, wrapping his arms around Niall's waist and said:

“Come on, Anna. Let's go build that snowman of yours.”

 

“Noooo, daddy, what are you doing!” Shaylee said with a horrified gasp, “The head has to be the smallest one!”

“What are you even talking about?” Niall yelled disbelievingly. “Have you seen Olaf? Have you seen his head?”

Shaylee just squinted her eyes at Niall, holding her own snowball away from him. They started arguing about it a while ago and now they were having an intense staring contest. Niall hadn't blinked even when he heard Zayn's laugh somewhere behind him.

“OK, OK,” the dark haired boy said, patting his fiance's and daughter's heads, “Step back, children and let the artist work.”

Shay glanced up at Zayn, her eyes sparkling with excitement. If there was one thing that could draw her attention, it was watching her papa make art.

“You're rubbish at building snowmen and we all know this,” Niall said, but Zayn only shushed him.

There wasn't much snow, so their snowman was a really small one, smaller even than Shaylee. Zayn tried to shape its head to make it look like Olaf’s. He didn’t succeed though. The snowman’s head looked like mutant eggplant and Niall started to literally roll on the snow, crying of laughter at some point, watching Zayn’s efforts. However, Niall still helped Shaylee to place rocks they’d found earlier on the snowman’s belly. They spend some time going around the part and looking for branches that would fit as arms.

“Ok, now give me the carrot, darling, we’re gonna put it as his nose!” Zayn said, adding the sticks to their snowman and reaching out to his daughter.

“Ohhhh!” Shay called in realization, “So that what was the carrot for!”

Dark-haired boy turned around, eyeing the girl suspiciously. She had her hands joined behind her back, a thoughtful expression on her face.

“What’s with that past tense, Shay?” Zayn raised an eyebrow.

“Well…,” she said and showed him one of her hands, hid in fluffy mitten.

Both men bursted into laughter when they saw that the carrot was almost entirely eaten by now. About two inches had left. Apparently, someone became hungry, during the tiring process of building a snowman.

“You’re just like your dad, ya know?” Zayn said, pinching at the girl’s nose, “Eating everything you can. What are we going to do now? Are we gonna put that stub there?”

“I think” Niall moved closer and took the rest of the vegetable from his daughter and shoved it in his mouth, “that it looks pretty good without a nose, too."


End file.
